Compliance‑Trestle, the Python SDK used to generate OSCAL documents, contains a path traversal flaw in its author commands (catalog‑generate, profile‑generate, and ssp‑generate). The commands append a user‑supplied output path onto the Trestle workspace without proper path‑validation, allowing an attacker to write or overwrite files outside the expected directory tree. When the --force‑overwrite flag is used the targeted directory is deleted before writing, enabling destruction of an attacker‑defined directory tree and indirect code execution by overwriting files that a subsequent pipeline step will run.

The vulnerability exists in Trestle versions prior to 3.12.4 and in the 4.0.0 through 4.0.3 releases. The affected product is the OSCal‑Compass compliance‑Trestle tool, which is typically used in CI/CD pipelines, shared services, or wrapper scripts that may trust unverified input.

The vulnerability carries a CVSS score of 7.7. No EPSS score is available, and the issue is not listed in CISA’s KEV catalog. An attacker who can influence the output argument—such as a malicious CI job or a wrapper that derives the path from repository or tenant data—can write to arbitrary files, potentially overwriting critical configuration or executable files. The abuse of --force‑overwrite enhances the danger by allowing deletion of entire directory trees, which can be leveraged for indirect code execution in later pipeline stages.